Best Homeschool High School History Curriculum

World history should be an essential part of a child’s education, especially as they get older and become more curious about the world around them. And in the US, our world history curriculum helps to take teenagers on a journey back in time as they explore ancient civilizations and discover the marvelous inventions and technology that helped to shape the world we live in today. But learning about this subject at home can be challenging, but with the best homeschool history curriculum resources for high school students, you can bring history back to life.

The Best History Curriculum for Homeschool: When Education Meets Entertainment

The traditional method of teaching world history curriculum involves memorizing dates and learning the names of people who are long gone. But let’s be honest, recalling facts can often be boring and monotonous for adults, let alone a teenager. So when it comes to homeschooling, or indeed any schooling, edutainment, the blend of education and entertainment, is vital when teaching world history at home.

A varied and well-rounded world history curriculum will help you make world history home lessons exciting, fun, and engaging. High school homeschool curriculum resources that include videos, webinars, games, student participation, and lectures, along with standard textbooks, will help keep your lessons varied and interesting.

If you’re looking to break away from traditional methods, here are some of the best homeschool history curriculum options that blend engaging storytelling with interactive activities.

Top Homeschool History Curriculum Options (2025 Edition)

• Wild World of History (Larry Schweikart’s Courses) – Format: Video-based lessons + textbooks + tests.
  Why it’s Great: This program, developed by a historian and a college professor, covers both American and World History in depth. Each unit comes with video lectures that feel like a lively college class, making complex topics digestible and interesting. The curriculum emphasizes stories and key figures that textbooks sometimes gloss over (for example, it gives proper due to the entrepreneurs and inventors who shaped eras, not just politicians). Parents love the ready-made tests and the detailed teacher guides. 

Another great perk: the curriculum is primarily video-based, a refreshing rarity in homeschool resources, which often lean heavily on textbooks. Each lesson comes alive through engaging video lectures, bringing history directly into your home. Even better, you can sample a free version before committing, giving you the chance to see firsthand how your teen responds to this unique approach—no guesswork required. Wild World of History also shares a free ” How to Teach History” ebook, providing parents with helpful tips and strategies to make history more effective and enjoyable.

• Traditional Textbook Approach (e.g., BJU Press, Abeka) – Format: Printed textbook + workbook exercises.
  Why it’s Great: Traditional Christian homeschool curricula like BJU Press or Abeka have stood the test of time. They offer structured, chronological content with a clear conservative perspective, which appeals to many homeschooling families. These programs excel in providing straightforward readings and lots of practice questions. If your student learns well by reading and recalling, this approach provides ample facts and review. They also integrate a biblical worldview throughout. However, keep in mind the format is mostly text-based with some illustrations. It may not be as interactive as others. You might consider supplementing with documentary DVDs or historical novels for variety.
  
  
• Literature-Based History (e.g., Sonlight, My Father’s World) – Format: Booklist of historical fiction & non-fiction + instructor guide.
  Why it’s Great: Literature-based curricula use living books – engaging biographies, novels, and history books – instead of or alongside a textbook. A program like Sonlight, for instance, will have your high schooler reading about World War II through the eyes of characters in a novel, or learning about ancient Greece from a well-written narrative history. This approach humanizes history. Students often develop a deeper emotional connection to the material. It’s excellent for strong readers and those who get swept up in stories. Parents receive a thorough schedule and discussion questions, so guidance is provided. One caveat: there’s a lot of reading. If your student isn’t a big reader, this could be challenging, but the trade-off is tremendous depth and retention for those who embrace it.
  
  
• Unit Study/Project-Based (DIY or various guides) – Format: Thematic units combining history with projects.
  Why it’s Great: Some families take a more unit study approach, picking a historical era and designing projects around it. For example, during a unit on the American Revolution, a student might build a model of Independence Hall, cook a colonial recipe, read historical novels set in the period, and write a diary from a soldier’s perspective. This approach can be cobbled together from free online resources or guides. The upside is hands-on engagement and the ability to integrate subjects (history, literature, art, even science of the era). It caters to creative and active learners. The downside is the heavy planning required. However, for 2025, there are now more ready-made unit study guides available online (on sites like TeachersPayTeachers or homeschooling blogs) that can give you a framework so you’re not starting from scratch. If your teen retains knowledge best by “doing,” this might be the best method for them.
  

(Each of the above options can be excellent; the key is matching a program to your student’s interests and needs. Some families even combine elements — for example, using Wild World of History videos alongside Sonlight’s booklist, or adding a unit study project to a textbook curriculum to spice it up.)

Tips For High School Homeschool World History Curriculum Lessons

Storytelling Strengthens Memory Recall

Learning dates and events is important when it comes to studying world history, but behind every date and event are real people with real lives. So when you are learning about certain historical events, make sure to focus on stories and examine the lives of the people who lived through those events. This is one of the best homeschool history curriculum methods as it adds a human aspect to the information and allows your imagination to paint a picture of what actually took place all those years ago.

As we said earlier, human history covers thousands of years - so a lot of the time, knowing where to start is a tricky decision to make. Well, to begin with, avoid ancient history altogether. Turn your focus inwards and, together with your child, investigate the history of your own family and community. Whether you’re researching your family tree or discovering where your surname comes from, your child will be learning their history and how it applies to them. This will not only be fun but also engaging. Then you can start building on this and teaching how their history ties into world history and focusing more on the US history curriculum since this will be the most relatable.

Get Up & Start Moving While Teaching At Home

In such a digital-first world, standing up and moving around can make all the difference when it comes to teaching at home. We all are guilty of spending way too much time in front of a screen, so when teaching world history curriculum, use movement to keep young minds interested. For example, you could re-enact a scene from history or learn a song from the past. Then you can spend time teaching about the period that the scene or song came from and what was going on at that time. Not only will this be entertaining, it will help your teenagers retain the information they need for future exams.

And you don’t have to confine your lessons to your home either. You can often find some of the best homeschool history curriculum resources within local museums, libraries, and landmarks, many of which are free of charge.

This also demonstrates to your kids that history isn’t just something you can read about in books - it’s all around us in our everyday lives. Again, students learn best by doing, so physically going to see artifacts and exhibits related to your world history curriculum will be highly beneficial. 

Final Thoughts

The key to teaching world history is to keep lessons engaging, relatable, and interesting. That’s where Professor Larry Schweikart and The Wild World of History can help, providing quality fact-based world history homeschool curriculum and resources. Prof Larry is a rock-and-roll drummer turned professor with a gift for bringing history to life by making historical figures, humans and events relatable.

If you would like to learn more about teaching world history curriculum at home, please visit: https://www.wildworldofhistory.com/offers/HPDDjMiE/checkout